Need a loan

[Thebobo]

if you're really willing to put in the effort, some people have had success challenging the hospital's bill. The first step is to get an itemized bill with the actual coding for everything and then find comps. Was this price after insurance or were you doing this without insurance? Because the without-insurance prices are typically outrageous and no one actually pays them and neither should you.

Good call I had like $600 in separate bills from when doctors come they look at you ask a question and then bill you lol. I had no idea who there were. called my insurance and they contacted the hospital and had it removed.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I might just try this.
I will visit the hospital's financial department in person and see if they'll accommodate me with a tolerable payment plan. I'd rather pay the 10k over 48 months, at a minimum. If they obstinately refuse to stretch the timeframe, I'll try opening some CC accounts. What could go wrong?

Not sure why no one asked but...

Why the hell do you owe $10k+? Do you not have a reasonable max out of pocket? Were you uninsured? Was something not covered by insurance?

 

[Scarpozzi]

I would challenge the hospital bills like tynopik suggested. This was on national news a while back when they discussed medical billing. The term you want to use when you talk to them is that you're "self-paying" and ask if there's anything they can do to lower the amount owed because you don't have access to that kind of money.

Ultimately for the loan situation. You have 2 basic types of loans....a secured loan and an unsecured loan. If you can put something up for collateral, that's a secured loan. I needed $35k cash to finish building my house and oddly enough, I had a few cars that were paid off....I refinanced them at 105% of their value and got the cash I need, and then some split between 2 car loans @ 1.5% APR for 3 years. My total costs are about $1000 interest over 3 years for those loans. If I had gotten a HELOC, I would have paid $3k minimum closing + interest at a higher rate. Just saying....if you have a car that has any value....borrow against it at a credit union.

 

[FeuerFrei]

if you're really willing to put in the effort, some people have had success challenging the hospital's bill. The first step is to get an itemized bill with the actual coding for everything and then find comps. Was this price after insurance or were you doing this without insurance? Because the without-insurance prices are typically outrageous and no one actually pays them and neither should you.

Sans insurance. The $10k supposedly reflects an $8k self-pay "discount." Yay?
I probably don't have the time to itemize and dispute. Maybe 'til Tuesday. But yes, the radiology lab, doctor, specialist, have all billed me separately, so what is $10k for ... 11 hours in ER?

"No one actually pays them" ... mkaay.

 

[FeuerFrei]

credit score ~740 depending on who you ask

 

[Viper GTS]

With credit like that you should be able to get pretty reasonable rates from Lending Club, but the term may not be as long as you'd like. A1 is at 5.31% right now and I'd imagine 740 will get you close to that.

Long introductory rate credit cards and subsequent balance transfers are another solid option but you run the risk of screwing up (seemingly unlikely) or being unable to BT it when a period ends if your situation changes dramatically.

Whatever way you choose, with apparently good credit this debt does NOT need to cost you a lot. You could get an easy 30-36 months at 0% by choosing a card with 18 month 0% introductory on purchases, then BT to something like Chase Slate or Penfed Promise.

Viper GTS

 

[FeuerFrei]

With credit like that you should be able to get pretty reasonable rates from Lending Club, but the term may not be as long as you'd like. A1 is at 5.31% right now and I'd imagine 740 will get you close to that.
...
Viper GTS

I tried just now. LendingClub says "... we can't make you an offer "
Wish I could figure out how to retry with a lower ask. Maybe 10k was too much.

 

[Not So Mild]

When you guys say get a new credit card to pay off old cc debt, do you just make the payment with your new cc, or do you contact the cc company to take over the debt? I would think that if you make payments with a new cc you'd end up losing even more money because it's an interest rate on top of your original loan with added interest rate.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

When you guys say get a new credit card to pay off old cc debt, do you just make the payment with your new cc, or do you contact the cc company to take over the debt? I would think that if you make payments with a new cc you'd end up losing even more money because it's an interest rate on top of your original loan with added interest rate.

It's called a balance transfer. Can usually initiate it online now.

 

[FeuerFrei]

It's called a balance transfer. Can usually initiate it online now.

And Balance Transfer APR may vary from Purchase APR.

 

[FeuerFrei]

My bank offers a credit card with 10.92% APR, but no introductory APR.

Thanks to everyone for the input. You have been supremely helpful.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My bank offers a credit card with 10.92% APR, but no introductory APR.

Thanks to everyone for the input. You have been supremely helpful.

Did you see my message about the auto loan? Banks may be able to do something else similar to that if you own anything else as collateral. Secured loans are definitely the way to go.

The best APR I could get, even with my stellar credit (780) was over 8% on an unsecured loan.

 

[FeuerFrei]

As far as collateral, I don't really have high value assets, except some IRA funds.

I will most likely go the credit card route.

 

[Viper GTS]

https://www.creditcards.com/zero-interest/
https://www.creditkarma.com/creditcards/explore/i/0-introductory-rate-credit-cards/

Take a look at those two lists. There are several decent options, you can do some research on approval odds. I would not go spamming applications around wildly, take some time to understand which card you have the best chances with. Apply for the good candidates all in a brief window (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/App-o-rama) and then stop applying. If you have a thin file you may have a hard time (probably why Lending Club didn't fly for you).

The potential advantage of the app-o-rama method is you don't need one card with a high enough limit to absorb the whole charge. High credit limits come with time and lots of credit history, you might be able to get several cards with moderate limits and introductory 0% periods of varying lengths.

The trap of course is you are committing yourself to either utilizing that newly built history to get a much higher limit 0% BT card when the first one expires, or fixing your income situation.

Viper GTS

 

[FeuerFrei]

I've been studying that zero-interest list on CreditKarma already. Looks like CreditKarma itself will display my approval odds, if I sign in to the site. Handy!

 

[Rumpltzer]

I'd seriously play hardball with the hospital over the amount and over the 2 years if that's not enough time (too high a payment). The hospital is interested in getting paid; they'll work with you. You have nothing to lose in trying.

If you're able to knock $2k (or more) off that $10k, wouldn't that be worth a few hours of work and negotiation? If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, hit up your most aggressive (and yet rational) friends and family for a little help. Tell them you'll pay them 10% of whatever they can save you if that needs to be a thing; you still win!

In my case, I'M the most aggressive person that my friends know (and I can quickly do simple math in my head). I've negotiated about a dozen car purchases/leases in the past ten years, and I just worked out a $3000 settlement for a friend (initial offering was $500). Saving thousands of dollars will be worth acting like a jerk (a rational, not impolite jerk) for two or three hours.

You want to do this before taking out a loan or putting it on a credit card. Once it out of the hospital realm, negotiation to reduce payment will be much tougher.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Thinking of applying for another credit card from the same issuer as my current card.
( I've had it for 16 years, and it has a respectable limit. )

I'm pondering the likelihood of approval. Might the issuer balk at me opening a second credit line? or will my long payment history work in my favor during the approval process?
CreditKarma indicates my odds of approval as VERY GOOD.

 

[Chess]

I had the same issue @FeuerFrei and I called them up and said look.. .I can do 180 a month... Granted it was for only 5k... They had to get a "supervisor" to approve it.. They did... I pay 180 a month.

Granted I could afford the 5k, but why when they will give you an interest free loan.... Thats my .02.. Do you have an HSA Acct ?

I went to a LARGE well known hospital in Maryland area, that everyone knows...

I'd suggest calling them and talking to a supervisor... Just be very honest, Look I can pay this off 4 years, 10k... Its alot of money but if you let me stretch it to that then I will be okay.

 

[ultimatebob]

See... if we invented Anandtechcoins like I said that we should, we could totally microfinance this guy. I blame Zeze for not making this happen.

 

[postmortemIA]

Hospital should give you zero % loan, most of them are not-for-profit entities..

 

[IronWing]

Where the hell is @highland145 when you need him?

 

[highland145]

Where the hell is @highland145 when you need him?

Sucking hind tit, aparantly.

Good information above.


Do not pay any interest to hospitals or medical collections. Negotiate the $$ you can afford, with pay stubs if need be. Let them send it to collections and offer them the same but, maybe now, with less/mo and a letter of gurantee of credit removal. Do not miss a payment if you set up payments.

Do not, borrow $$ to pay for medical.

You might take a hit on your cr because of the mdical but it goes away faster than a credit default.

Did I mention that if you borrow my $$ and don't pay, I may eat your dog? Well groomed, well fed...I'm not seeing a downside.

 

[Skunk-Works]

In Sim City 4 I think it was Shift X to cheat. You enter the code idontdeserveit or something. Or you can borrow money from loan shark, but then you have to worry about your kneecaps.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Loans on their own have ridiculous rates not worth it. You need work with them and set up what you can pay per month. What else can they do? of course your credit might be fucked for a while.

lemme get a pay day loan so I can be in debt forever

 

[ultimatebob]

I would call up that hospital and ask them "How badly do you want that money?"

Tell them you can't pay on those terms, and threaten to default/declare bankruptcy (even if you have no intention of doing so) if the terms can't be modified. I can't believe they wouldn't work with you to find some common ground.

How's your credit?

Can you discharge medical debt in bankruptcy now? I thought that it was more like tax debt or student loan debt, that you can no longer get rid of that way.

On a less serious note, it's too bad that my Anandtechcoins cryptocurrency idea never got approved by the mods. I still have a bunch of them floating around the Ethereum network, but I'm not allowed to trade them here. We ended up doing Coolcoin instead, but that's more of a reward token than a donation service.